It’s the end of May and we’ve been jam packed full of band concerts, athletic banquets, as well as SAT and AP test support for the final push to the end of the school year coming for both our boys. It can be a hectic time, always on the go, which is why protecting a little reading and listening time every day has been paramount to my self-care.
Stories and narrative, whether written, watched, or listened to, have always offered me respite and a nice brain reset when the world around me is a little chaotic or unstructured. Luckily, I’ve had some great distractions this month when I’ve needed a moment to rest.
What I’m Reading
Something Better* by Joanna Monahan…I mean, who hasn’t gotten to our (okay, my, ahem) age and looked back and thought, “What if” about something? Whether it’s the one who got away or let us go or the major we opted out of or the college we didn’t pick or the job we left or didn’t. There are infinite paths in our past that beg for questions. And let’s face it, as a woman of a certain age, as a mom with kids of a certain (getting ready to leave) age, it’s natural to look back and wonder what lessons there are to learn from those choices in order to plot what’s next.
Joanna addresses this murky mid-life middle brilliantly in Something Better exploring one woman’s dilemma after reconnecting at her high school reunion with the boyfriend who abandoned her after high school. Will she choose the what if or will she always feel like she settled to stay with the right now?
Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson was beautiful and vast and gorgeous and heartbreaking. A family saga of two children learning after their mother that she was not who they thought she was. The torture of questions that can no longer be asked! Add in a little whodunit, the need for sibling repair, and a tropical locale and I was invested in the future of this family. I am excited to check out the series on Hulu soon, but always like to give some time before watching something based on a book so that I don’t spend every moment announcing what’s different from the book (tell me I’m not alone!).
What I’m Watching
We just binged this season of Abbott Elementary with our middle schooler during his school break (read chaotic May…we’re so close to having two kids on the same school calendar instead of one in year round and one on traditional). All hail Quinta Brunson for nailing a unique workplace while navigating a variety of friendships, break-ups, missed connections, and life’s general ups and downs. Our family agrees that Mr. Johnson is the show’s ultimate star and each episode, we wait for whatever line he delivers that will reduce us to tears of laughter.
It was raining in my neck of the woods the weekend the first half of Bridgerton Season 3 dropped so those episodes were quickly consumed. This series is so full of romance, the visuals so bright and stunning, and the music so fun that it’s pure joy to watch. Plus, there is a tortured writer who is quick with a quip from her quill. And how often can someone write that alliterative sentence?!
What I’m Listening to
I loved the conversation between Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Anne Lamott on a recent Wiser Than Me podcast. Listening to this episode is the perfect companion for reading Something Better for all those midlife questions that arise in our professional and personal lives as our children get older and our goals change.
I also loved the conversation between Glennon Doyle and Suleika Jaouad on the We Can Do Hard Things podcast about creating while facing a chronic illness, beauty as an act of defiance, and what support looks like for those in emotional need. I already mentioned American Symphony as a favorite watch back in December, so if you haven’t watched it, do that first as its the story of Suleika and her husband Jon Batiste during a most difficult year of their life. It’s storytelling at its finest and a gorgeous treatise on living a creative life. Emphasis on life – the thing that gets messy and isn’t perfect or always providing those cabin in the wood conditions we romanticize about the creative life.
What have you been reading, watching, and listening to in May? Share in the comments!
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Featured photo by mauro mora on Unsplash